WTC, UNIDO to enhance competitiveness of SMEs
The World Trade Centre (WTC) Ghana and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have reiterated their commitment to come together to enhance the competitiveness of small and medium-scale enterprises in the country.
Advertisement
The initiative will come under the UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office in Italy to help identify trade opportunities between Ghana and Italy for their mutual benefits.
The collaboration will also focus on priority areas such as poverty reduction through productive activities; energy; environment and trade capacity building mainly within sub-Saharan Africa.
At a round-table discussion with stakeholders in the investment sector in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of the WTC, Togbe Afede XIV, said the UNIDO/ITPO and WTC partnership was borne out of their shared objectives of promoting world trade and investment between countries as their contribution towards economic growth, peace and prosperity.
He indicated that all conflicts in the world were as a result of limited resources and as such enhancing resources among countries through trade and investment would help promote world peace and prosperity.
The programme
The round-table discussion brought together officials from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Volta River Authority (VRA), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and UNIDO ITPO Italy, to deliberate on how trade and investment opportunities between Ghana and Italy could be enhanced to promote development.
In her address, the Head, Investment and Technology Promotion Office of UNIDO, Ms Diana Battaggia, said “the Lima Declaration in December 2013 called upon UNIDO to strengthen its support for countries towards achieving inclusive and sustainable industrial development as a necessity for eradicating poverty, improving the life of the poor and sharing prosperity with the excluded.”
Through that objective, she said, Italy’s UNIDO/ITPO continued to support its partner countries to promote industrial growth with focus on inclusiveness and environmental sustainability.
According to her, the UNIDO ITPO had partnered with the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea to interact with the private and public sectors in the country to develop a relationship where the business communities could exchange information, know-how and technology to enhance industrial productivity.
Ms Battaggia said UNIDO/ITPO had identified WTC Ghana as a prominent partner to support Ghana’s SMEs by linking them with Italian markets and companies.
An Investment Promotion Expert with ITPO, Mr Andrea Carapellese, said Ghana presented a better investment opportunity with its stable environment, hence the decision by the UNIDO/ITPO to factor the country into its priority list.